State, Ex Rel. Flittner v. Baldwin

162 N.E.2d 137, 108 Ohio App. 445, 9 Ohio Op. 2d 403, 1958 Ohio App. LEXIS 686
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 24, 1958
Docket4998
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 162 N.E.2d 137 (State, Ex Rel. Flittner v. Baldwin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State, Ex Rel. Flittner v. Baldwin, 162 N.E.2d 137, 108 Ohio App. 445, 9 Ohio Op. 2d 403, 1958 Ohio App. LEXIS 686 (Ohio Ct. App. 1958).

Opinions

Deeds, J.

The relator, Gladys Flittner, has filed a petition in this court seeking a writ of mandamus requiring the respondents to comply with an order of the Civil Service Commission of the city of Toledo, Ohio, dated November 23, 1956.

Respondents, Raymond D. Baldwin, Thomas S. Bretherton, Wayne Shawaker. Jane Kuebbeler and Edwin D. Dodd, by answer admit that they are the duly elected, qualified and acting Board of Education of the city of Toledo and that relator was in the employment of the Board of Education of the Toledo School District until September 1, 1956.

Respondents admit further that the relator was employed *446 as a clerk in the cafeteria department by the defendant board of education from March 1, 1949, but deny that said position was in the classified civil service.

The cause is submitted for determination on the pleadings, a transcript of the evidence, including exhibits, taken by deposition, and the oral arguments and briefs of counsel for the parties respectively.

The testimony discloses, in part, that in the month of February 1949 the relator sought employment with the defendant board of education through a Mr. R. S.-Wenslow (deceased), who was known as “the business manager for all noneducational employes” of the Toledo School District; that relator was told by Wenslow that she would have to go to the Civil Service Commission of the city of Toledo to take a noncompetitive civil service examination; that plaintiff did go to the civil service commission and was given a written examination; that the secretary of the civil service commission gave relator a paper, following the examination, which the relator delivered to the business manager; and that thereafter, commencing March 1, 1949, relator became and was an employee of the Toledo School District until her discharge on August 31,1956.

The evidence discloses that relator’s duties consisted of work as a clerk, preparation of payrolls and bookkeeping in the cafeteria department of the board of education, and the relator testified that she was told by the business manager that she was employed under civil service and that she was also told by the secretary of the Civil Service Commission that she would be under civil service.

It is disclosed by the evidence that the civil service commission has not held or had any competitive examinations for employees for the Toledo School District since February 14, 1941.

On September 10, 1956, the assistant superintendent in charge of business administration notified the relator by letter that her services at the board of education were discontinued, which notice was in part as follows:

“Pursuant to my advising you that your services were no longer needed at the board of education, I instructed the payroll department to draw a check for all monies due you at the close of the work day, August 31, 1956,

*447 “ Your services were discontinued for the following reasons as stated to you:

“ (1) You have been disloyal to your superior administrative officers.

“(2) You have injected yourself into administrative matters which were of no concern to you.

“(3) You have by written word accused me of misrepresentation to my superior.”

The business manager transmitted a copy of the written notice of the relator’s discharge, by mail, to the Civil Service Commission of the city of Toledo.

On September 20, 1956, relator mailed notice of intention to appeal, addressed to the Toledo Civil Service Commission, with copies being addressed to assistant superintendent, business administration, and the Superintendent of Schools of Toledo, in part as follows:

“The undersigned wishes to appeal her removal from her position as a bookkeeper with the Board of Education of Toledo, Ohio, on the 10th day of September, 1956 (after a service record of 28 years) to this commission under and by virtue of the provisions of Section 143.27 of the Ohio Revised Code.”

A motion was filed by the board of education on October 18, 1956, seeking an order dismissing the appeal of relator, upon the grounds that the records of the civil service commission did not indicate that “appellant” was employed in the classified civil service and that appellant (relator) had never taken an examination and was therefore not entitled to the protection of the civil service laws of the state.

On November 8, 1956, the civil service commission entered an order on the motion of the board of education, in part as follows:

“This matter came on to be heard on the motion of the Board of Education for the City School District of the city of Toledo, Ohio, for an order dismissing the appeal heretofore filed herein by the above named Gladys Flittner: and the parties being present and represented by counsel, said motion was heard on the evidence and the arguments and briefs of counsel; and the commission, being fully advised in the premises and *448 after careful consideration thereof, finds that said motion is not well taken and that the same should be and hereby is overruled.

“It is therefore ordered by the commission that the motion of the said board of education is and it hereby is overruled, and that the hearing date of the appeal of the said Gladys Flittner shall be and it hereby is set for Tuesday, November 20, 1956, at 2:00 o ’clock p. m., in the hearing room of the commission. ’ ’

It appears from the evidence that a hearing of the appeal of the relator was held before the Civil Service Commission of the city of Toledo on N ovember 20,1956.

Following the hearing, the members of the civil service commission determined, in substance, that the appellant was present and represented by counsel; that the assistant superintendent and the superintendent of the board were present and represented by counsel; that counsel for the board renewed its motion for dismissal of the appeal on grounds of lack of jurisdiction of the commission to hear the appeal; that the motion to dismiss was overruled; that counsel for the board represented that no evidence would be offered in support of the written statement of charges against the appellant and counsel for the board requested leave of the commission for counsel and said assistant superintendent and superintendent to be excused and to withdraw from the hearing; that “the commission declared its intention to proceed with the hearing under the express provisions of its rules and thereupon granted the request of counsel for the board” to be excused from the hearing.

Thereafter, on November 23, 1956, the commission found and determined in part as follows:

“Coming now to the written statement of charges against the appellant, the commission found that charges numbered one (1) and two (2) thereof were not sufficiently explicit as required by law and hence said charges were and they hereby are dismissed.

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Bluebook (online)
162 N.E.2d 137, 108 Ohio App. 445, 9 Ohio Op. 2d 403, 1958 Ohio App. LEXIS 686, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-flittner-v-baldwin-ohioctapp-1958.